A known water-proof connector is provided with a wire seal or a collective rubber stopper disposed in a connector housing in order to prevent entry of water or the like from the outside (see Japanese Patent No. 3174261, for example). The wire seal has a plurality of contact insertion passageways at positions corresponding to a plurality of cavities in the connector housing. When a contact is inserted into the cavity through the contact insertion passageway, the inner periphery of the contact insertion passageway comes into close contact with an electrical wire connected to the contact to provide waterproofness.
The connector housing typically includes an outer housing and an inner housing. With the water-proof connector, the inner housing is fitted into a recess positioned in the outer housing, and the wire seal is interposed between the outer housing and the inner housing.
Generally, the connector housing is made of a resin material, and the wire seal is made of a rubber-based material. In order to align the cavities formed in the outer housing and the inner housing and the contact insertion passageways formed in the wire seal with each other, the wire seal is secured in the inner housing and positioned with pins with respect to the outer housing. That is, pin-shaped bosses are formed on the outer housing, and recesses into which the bosses are inserted are formed in the wire seal fitted in the inner housing. The wire seal is positioned in the outer housing by inserting the bosses into the recesses of the wire seal. However, the aforementioned conventional techniques have problems, as described below.
During assembly of the water-proof connector, the wire seal to be fitted into the inner housing has a predetermined fastening margin in order to ensure sealability between the wire seal and the inner housing. Therefore, when the wire seal is fitted into the inner housing, the wire seal is inwardly compressed and deformed. The compression and deformation of the wire seal may result in a displacement of the recesses formed in the wire seal from the original positions. In this case, the bosses on the outer housing cannot be inserted into the recesses of the wire seal, and the assembly of the water-proof connector fails.
Even if the wire seal is not properly positioned in the recess of the outer housing, the outer housing and the inner housing may be forcedly fitted with each other, because the wire seal is made of a rubber-based material. However, in such a case, the contacts cannot be inserted into the contact insertion passageways in the wire seal or are bent, and the connector cannot carry out its function as a connector.